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Gleaner
Gleaner Manufacturing Company was the name of a company which made the first self-propelled combine harvesters. They are best known for their production while part of Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company Manufacturing Company. Gleaners were silver in colour, unlike the Allis Chalmers field tractors, which were unique for their bright orange paint. Gleaners were notable for being the first to use galvanized sheet metal. Gleaning itself is the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers' fields after they have been commercially harvested or on fields where it is not economically profitable to harvest. Gleaner History Gleaner combines date back to 1923, when the Baldwin Brothers of Kansas, inspired by Jean Francois Millet's famous 1857 painting, The Gleaners, and so decided to use the term as the name for their radically redesigned self-propelled harvesting machine. The Baldwin Brother's Gleaner incorporated reaping, binding and threshing all into one machine. Gleaner Baldwin Combines of Independence, MO fell into bankruptcy in the 1930s as sales plummeted. William James Brace became the receiver and with his son-in-law, George Reuland and others brought the company back. During WWII, they also produced war related machinery parts. They were among the pioneers in the "self-propelled" machines, that is combines which had integrated propulsion and were not pulled by tractors. These machines were often considered the "Cadillac" of the industry. Allis-Chalmers purchased Gleaner in 1955 and continued to build the Gleaner machines in Independence, MO. When Allis-Chalmers folded, it became part of Deutz-Allis and in 1991, AGCO (Allis Gleaner Company)was created. The Independence plant was moved to Hesston, Kansas in 2000, near its roots where the Baldwin brothers started. In 1979, Gleaner released another major innovation to the harvesting industry, the rotary combine. The Gleaner N6 was the first such combine(style of rotary, not the first, as IH was), followed by the N5 and the N7, the largest combine of its time, with cutter bars as big as 30 feet. Firsts Seconds and THIRDS Some of the firsts introduced by the Gleaner are: an auger that replaced canvas drapers, a rasp bar threshing cylinder instead of a spike-tooth arrangement, and a down-front cylinder that put threshing closer to the crop. It introduced the rotary combine. It also introduced the use of galvanized sheet metal and the name “GLEANER” – two trademarks that have remained unchanged for over three-quarters of a century. Allis-Chalmers In 1955, Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company acquired the Gleaner company. This was what launched Gleaner onto success and the production of numerous new models, as well as a wealth of new technology. Allis-Chalmers is the name under which Gleaners are most well known. These combines superseded the All-Crop brand for Allis-Chalmers. The AC models are shown below Deutz-Allis In 1985, Allis-Chalmers became Deutz-Allis, and Gleaners products continued to be were produced under the Gleaner brand name and had a Deutz-Allis green stripe on the. Most used the air-cooled Deutz engines. This was the start of the downfall of the Gleaner combine. AGCO In 1991, Deutz-Allis became AGCO, and Gleaners were consequently sold under AGCO, which actually stands for Allis Gleaner Company. The green stripe was changed to orange, which exists today. A major change to the appearance of Gleaner's was the move from unpainted galvanized steel for the body, to a painted gray body. In 2000, AGCO moved the Gleaner manufacturing facility to it's AGCO (Hesston) facility in Hesston, Kansas in order to have a more modern facility and to centralize many engineering and production functions at one location. This facility is located just a few miles away from where the Gleaner company originated from. Also during this time-period, AGCO rebadged some Gleaners as Whites, using the same silver-galvanized steel body, with a black stripe and the White logo, using a Cummins engine. These were available for at least the 1992 model-year. The New AGCO The Gleaners brand is still in production today under AGCO Gleaner, (AGCO actually stands for Allis Gleaner Company). See also *Allis-Chalmers *List of Allis-Chalmers tractors *All-Crop Harvester *Gleaner E References *Gleaner Heritage *http://www.agpowermag.com/articles/articles.php?articleid=1123 External links *Gleaner website Category:Agricultural machinery manufacturers Category:Companies of the United States Category:Gleaner Category:Allis-Chalmers Category:Combine harvesters Category:AGCO brands Category:Combine harvester manufacturers of the United States